The Journal of Young Investigators: An Undergraduate, Peer-Reviewed Science Journal
Volume 20, Issue 3. September 2010
Chimps Pass On Behaviors To Next Generation
Researchers hope that new evidence indicating chimps can pass learned behaviors between as many as six generations will help to explain the development of cultural behavior in populations of wild chimps such as this one. Image courtesy of Brian Smithson.
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08 September 2006 -
Humans are not unique in passing learned behaviors from one generation to the next. Chimpanzees can also transmit behaviors and traditions along a chain of individuals, according to new research published in the online version of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Previous studies had suggested that chimps only adopt the behaviors of their social group.
Researchers at Emory University’s Yerkes National Primate Research Center and the University of St. Andrews in Scotland designed an experiment that simulated multiple generations. They found that chimpanzees were capable of accurately passing on a behavior along a chain of six individuals, representing six generations or the equivalent of 90 years of chimpanzee society in the wild.
Researchers taught one chimp from each of two social groups a different “foraging” method. One chimp learned to lift the door to a testing box containing fruit, while the second was taught to slide the door. Once the chimps mastered the technique of opening the door, a second chimp from their social group was allowed to observe them and then was given access to the box. Once the second chimp perfected the method, another chimp was introduced, and the process was continued for up to six individuals. Chimps in a third social group that was allowed access to the box without instruction discovered how to open the door through both lifting and sliding, suggesting that the other two groups favored a particular technique because of learned behavior.
“The chimpanzees in this study continued using only the technique they observed rather than an alternative method," explained lead researcher Victoria Horner of Yerkes and St. Andrews. "Clearly, observing one exclusive technique from a previous chimpanzee was sufficient for transmission of behavior along multiple cultural generations."
The research could shed light on how wild chimps learn complex behaviors that are specific to a unique population. In addition, this study found similar results as a separate St. Andrews study examining three-year-old children, a similarity that suggests “cultural learning may be rooted deep within the evolutionary process," Horner said.
Research at Yerkes will continue to explore both the transmission of behaviors between generations and the cognitive mechanisms that underlie cultural learning.
Researchers at Emory University’s Yerkes National Primate Research Center and the University of St. Andrews in Scotland designed an experiment that simulated multiple generations. They found that chimpanzees were capable of accurately passing on a behavior along a chain of six individuals, representing six generations or the equivalent of 90 years of chimpanzee society in the wild.
Researchers taught one chimp from each of two social groups a different “foraging” method. One chimp learned to lift the door to a testing box containing fruit, while the second was taught to slide the door. Once the chimps mastered the technique of opening the door, a second chimp from their social group was allowed to observe them and then was given access to the box. Once the second chimp perfected the method, another chimp was introduced, and the process was continued for up to six individuals. Chimps in a third social group that was allowed access to the box without instruction discovered how to open the door through both lifting and sliding, suggesting that the other two groups favored a particular technique because of learned behavior.
“The chimpanzees in this study continued using only the technique they observed rather than an alternative method," explained lead researcher Victoria Horner of Yerkes and St. Andrews. "Clearly, observing one exclusive technique from a previous chimpanzee was sufficient for transmission of behavior along multiple cultural generations."
The research could shed light on how wild chimps learn complex behaviors that are specific to a unique population. In addition, this study found similar results as a separate St. Andrews study examining three-year-old children, a similarity that suggests “cultural learning may be rooted deep within the evolutionary process," Horner said.
Research at Yerkes will continue to explore both the transmission of behaviors between generations and the cognitive mechanisms that underlie cultural learning.
Journal of Young
Investigators. 2008. Volume 0.
Copyright © 2008 by Emma Wear and and JYI. All rights reserved.
Copyright © 2008 by Emma Wear and and JYI. All rights reserved.